Prelude

by brightteal

Dove is new at Fork’s High school, a colorful recluse whose nomadic family sees her thrown from school to school around the country, tired of the lack of surprises she finds in each. But Forks brings mystery. Forks brings Edward. E/OC

PRELUDE.

Hello!

Yay for new fics. This is a little creation I started late one night which evolved into a story I'd like to share with teh internet. There's no Bella in this story, as lovely as she is, but don't run away! I wanted to attempt something a little different, and I did so by introducing an original female character. She's new, so be nice to her, K? Aw, thanks

Music (You'll see what I mean) for this chapter is in this playlist:

.com/playlist/17145269515/standalone

Two songs (Time Is Marchin by John Lee Hooker and Bitter Boy by Kate Rusby are excluded cause they weren't on )

Anyway, enjoy! And please review, I'd love to know what you think.

DISCLAIMER: Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight. I own my original character, and that's it.

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Chapter 1: Warning

EDWARD'S POV

I wonder what my friends would think if they knew I just willingly listened to rap.

I turned my head inconspicuously to see whose mind was occupied by this of all things.

Wait, what friends?.

I eyed the large crowd of jocks meandering around the labyrinth of lunch tables, looking for appropriately attractive girls to talk to. There was no tone to this new voice in my head… It was sort of featureless, could be male or female. I was guessing male...

The bell.

Wonderful. Excellent. School, my beloved.

I cringed a particularly intimate memory from Alice's head involuntarily popped into my own as we exited the lunchroom. If she could have blushed, she would have. Believe me.

I took a different route to class, disgusted in the details Alice remembered of her and Jasper's intense love-making extravaganza the other night. I had no idea what would cause her to remember something like that so fondly, or so frequently. I guess I didn't understand physical attraction much because it wasn't a part of my life, which may or may not be a good thing with these thoughts being thrown at me all the time. I really did not understand it, and was completely sick of hearing about it.

What I wouldn't give to be able to turn off my mind…

I sat down in my usual seat in English, alone and so bored I was pretty sure today would be the day I finally experienced sleep. I envied them to an extent, humans… At least they could shut their eyes and escape to better surroundings. The dull grey walls of the class held no patterns for me to untangle in my mind, no cracks for me to draw together into pictures. There was nothing here I hadn't thought about a thousand times before to stop myself going mad. So I turned to thoughts… I actually listened in to the infantile heads of my classmates for entertainment. Oh Jessica Stanley, the reality TV of minds.

Not surprisingly, it was only slightly better than staring at the grey wall. Slightly.

My hair looks weird… Why does it look so scraggy today? It looked good in the mirror this morning. OMG what if there's something wrong with my mirror. If there is I will literally die. Imagine thinking you were hot but it turned out you had a dodge mirror that just hid your fuglyness from you? How embarrassing would that be?

I smiled, not at the thoughts I'd heard rotate endlessly through her mind, but at the realization that there really was nothing else in there. Were people so self obsessed, so superficial that they thought of nothing but their looks? They only had a limited time to live life, so shouldn't they want nothing but to grow and better their minds? To find some meaning to it all?

If I am secretly fugly I will die. Maybe everyone's just being nice to me cause I'm that deluded girl who thinks she's hot. Actually no, Mike wouldn't have kissed me if that was the case. He definitely wouldn't have french kissed me anyway. He DEFINITELY wouldn't have tou-

I turned my head abruptly, having had one too many sexually explicit images in my mind this morning. Granted, Jessica Stanley was easier to watch in such

positions than my sisters, but it still did nothing at all for me.

Ok, who else? Jane, a silent girl I rarely tuned into because her voice was so quiet I often forgot she existed.

Oh God I hope she doesn't ask me a question. I have no idea what she's talking about at all. SLOW. DOWN.

Ms Jennings did speak uncommonly fast for a mortal, but it was nothing compared to the speed of a conversation between me and my family. Funny, really... We had all the time in the world, but we could move and talk so much faster than those who had what comparatively seemed like no time. Being able to read, talk, move and think faster than anyone round me made me restless… Sometimes I imagined things I could get away with before human eyes would even notice anything had happened… I could get up from my seat, do a little dance and sit back down. I could borrow the teachers pen and return it before she looked back down. I could do countless things, but I wouldn't. Even mundane things like that were too risky, as sure as I was that I could succeed in going unnoticed.

Are seconds really that slow? I watched the longest, thinnest hand of the clock glide on in an endless circle, distracted momentarily by the newly formed cracks in the paint I could see on the clock's rim. All these microscopic details human eyes neglected to notice… I saw.

Ms Jennings was still going on about Shakespeare. I opened a copy of Romeo and Juliet to the appropriate page, hearing my name in her thoughts.

"Edward, can you read Romeo, Scene 2. Capulet's orchard?"

I nodded, despite my desire to do anything but that. I started out, reading through the text unenthusiastically almost without having to look at my page, though I did for obvious reasons. It wasn't that I disliked the text… I understood its artistic worth, that it was a valuable literary heirloom which to this day remains a beacon of hope and warning to all those with a heart to appreciate it. It's not bad, really. I just don't relate to it.

"The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,

As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand.

O, that I were a glove upon that hand,

That I might touch that cheek…"

I was almost surprised when the small voice of Jane interrupted my loathing to play the part of Juliet. It was soft I guessed, to human ears, but I could hear her perfectly.

We sparred, her nervous rendition of the sweet Juliet fitting strangely well with my rough interpretation of imprudent Romeo. A few people snickered at the comical value in such a pairing as us, but I ignored them, caring very little for their thoughts.

"What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title."

A name really does mean nothing. Were I as close to this girl as Romeo was to Juliet, she would be dead a long time before her beloved, whether his name was Romeo, Edward, or anything else. It really didn't matter.

I looked up to read her thoughts as she finished Juliet's speech but found them particularly vague, mostly worrying about pronunciations. The bell rang just as she finished the speech and I caught a loud and clear "Thank God" in her thoughts before she exited class. Jessica Stanley was thinking about me.

Wish he was my Romeo…God that voice… those lips. Mike's are good, but honestly… I would give them up in a second for Edward's.

I gathered my things and walked away promptly, half in fear that she would actually approach me and ask for what she wanted. These were tame Jessica thoughts, really. When she got going, she built elaborate fantasies about us. I had to give her props for the imagination involved… it was probably the only place she used it.

I'm sure Ms Jennings could justify her fast talk if any of it was more than unintelligible drivel.

I looked up from the floor when I heard this thought, knowing it couldn't have been Jessica. Strange… I don't know where it's coming from. My thoughts mostly had a directional sense, like regular voices. If I faced someone I could hear clearly, and if I turned away I could tune out. This voice was… weird. It kind of darted in and out, in more than one direction. It was the same voice and indecipherable tone from this morning.

The hall was too crowded, and the voice quickly disappeared. Internally shrugging it off, I continued walking to my next class…Film Studies. It was slightly more interesting to me because we got to sit in the dark and watch movies a lot. I may have seen most of them a few times before, but seeing them anew through other people's thoughts was sometimes quite fascinating.

We were watching Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, or as much of it as we could in the allocated class time. I thought this a decent choice, and decided to watch along with everyone else instead of sitting here stewing in my own remorse as usual. I wasn't much taken with modern films, finding most to exist to make money instead of to enhance the craft. Every now and then though, even I came around. Art was one of few things that gave me faith in man kind… One of the fortunes of being eternal, was that I could live to see all the best of the world's creations, and I have already lived to see many… I was once arrogant enough to think time and strength made me somehow superior to most people, but small things... pieces of music, paintings, they humbled me greatly. I was grateful for this, for it was hard to be as different as I was, and believing myself God's gift to the world would have made things even more unbearable. Truth be told, I would give anything to be one of them… oblivious to life's fragile beauty, unable to see cracks in hidden places, transient. All for a warm touch and a normalcy, I would give my infinite body.

The day passed slowly, and more than ever it hurt to think of my immortality. How many more times could I go to high school without going insane?

I considered this as I put on Vivaldi's Winter movement and sat cross legged on my sofa, the dark night reaching out and engulfing me through the many windows of my room.

I love this song.

My head darted up to look around me. I knew my family's voices very well, and this was not one of them. I was too far out to hear most mortals, but this eerie voice echoed in my head… I took a second to consider the words… this song? I didn't feel like they were in the house or even close to it. I got the same annoyingly vague direction as today at school. Upon hearing it at school, I drew the conclusion that for some reason it was cloudier than other minds, harder for me to read … but here I was in my private sanctuary, hearing it.

I looked around, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from so I could tune in, but found nothing. It was almost like they could plant thoughts into my head but not let me read the rest. Strange… Like watching a TV with bad reception.

What song were they talking about. I panicked slightly as I considered the possibility they could hear the music I was listening to, but soon dispelled that thought as impossible with a sheepish smile.

The smile was wiped off my face as something unsettled the trimph of Vivaldi's powerful score. It was… a different song, playing over the top, a eerily soft metallic ring of glockenspiel or marimba flooded my ears, making me wonder if something was wrong with my stereo. Upon finding it working perfectly, I stood up and looked around.

It was a lot stronger now, and seemed to be playing in my mind… but crystal clear I mistook it for music playing aloud. Couod this be linked to the voice, the song they mentioned in their mind not long ago?

This was unreal…

I'd never heard this song before. It was soft and flowing, almost unsettling. I turned off Vivaldi, entirely engulfed in the music in my own head. Was this what they were listening to? How are they doing this to me?

Then it exploded. I just about jumped as the soft marimba exploded into a wall of sound, intense glacial guitar and percussion vibrating through me, like I was the speaker through which it played. I had no idea whether it was just in my head or whether anyone else could hear…

Though questions continued to plague my mind, I calmed down slightly as a voice was added to the mix, singing in a language I wasn't familiar with. Strange… like it wasn't a language at all, just sounds.

It intrigued me.

I sat back down on my sofa and stared in wonder at nothing in particular. Who was doing this to me? Did they know they were doing this to me?

I doubted it. I'd experienced little things like this before, a little tune someone hummed in their head, but never a full CD quality recording. The entire track played through my head as clear as if it was coming from my stereo…

I felt the need to tell someone about it instantly, perhaps Carlisle. He probably wouldn't know much about it though… He had figured out my mind reading before I did, but never experienced it himself or known of anyone else who had. It was all guesswork.

As soon as it came, it went.

The track faded, and nothing but my newly perplexed stream of thoughts permeated the dark silence, leaving me completely in awe. Was I just in someone's mind, listening to music?

Either that or iTunes had found a new and intrusive way to advertise.

We sat in the car for a while, talking as the rest of the world took their sweet time getting out of their cars.

You're acting weird.

I smiled and shook my head at Alice, who only slanted her eyes to probe further.

What is it? I can't see anything in your future.

"Good," I muttered a little too harshly before opening my door to escape this supernatural inquisition. Any time anything was slightly askew, Alice thought it her duty to probe me with questions until I told her what it was so that she could fix it. Usually she didn't have to because she could see our problems and their resolutions in her mind, but this time obviously she couldn't. It wasn't so much a problem as… a change. I guess it showed in my predictably monotonous existence when something even a little out of the ordinary happened to me, whether I knew it or not.

English was first this morning. Nothing like a romantic tragedy to start the day.

I dragged my feet slower than the slowest of mortals, wanting more than anything to turn around and sit in my car until it was over. As per usual, Ms Jennings was dressed in her dapper high cut blouse and long skirt, making her appear older than she really was. Predictable rotations of grey, black and white made up her entire wardrobe, or so I guessed. It hurt my eyes to look at someone so adverse to colour. I liked to imagine she went home to a house full of vibrant flowers and bright painted walls, so at least there she could stand out against her environment… Here, she did not. Forks was grey, and most people faded happily against its cloudy embrace, destined to be forgotten, never to change.

Destined to be forgotten, never to change… Talk about the foundations of my existence.

I sighed to myself as I drew yet another similarity between myself and the most humdrum dwellers of the mortal world. Thoughts were tired today. Routine was disconcerting even the most patient of us, sending people's attention out windows to a slightly more appealing landscape than our English classroom. The passionate words of Romeo and Juliet drifted over our heads and dissolved into the walls of our prison. I willed them to give it some colour…

My prayers were answered...

I tried not to react as a tune filled my mind, looking around to see if it was just me hearing it, or everyone.

Just me.

This time it was an old blues track I vaguely recalled from the 50's. Soul drenched harmonica assaulted my ears, my mind, and the lyrics struck me as unnervingly appropriate... "Well time is marching on."

This was weird. Amazing.

My eyes darted around the room at my classmates, attempting to fit this odd occurrence with one of their minds… but nothing. The same old drivel, nothing more. I soon gave up, focusing all my attention on the music and trying not to tap my foot to the infectious tune.

"Edward?"

It stopped.

"Sorry?"

Jessica Stanley was standing beside my desk looking at me weirdly as I sat alone in an empty classroom. Class must have finished and I hadn't even noticed… that was not all like me. I was usually the first out the door...

"Are you coming?" she said smirking at me in a way I knew she thought would cause me to want to ask her out on a date. It didn't cause that, but I was thankful someone had knocked me out of my strange musical coma.

"Yeah," I muttered, gathering my stuff. To my annoyance, she waited for me so that we could walk out together.

Oh my God I'm walking with Edward. He smells so fucking good… I wonder if he waited back on purpose just so I would talk to him…

"Seeya," I mumbled, deliberately taking the long way to my next class to avoid any further inadvertent stroking of this girl's ego. She barely had time to think before I was out of sight again, lucky for me. I knew I came off as a complete asshole, but those were my distinct instructions, so it's not like I could do anything about it. Conversing with humans brought me too close to them, and that was something I couldn't risk. If in some weird change of being I did find any of these people mentally or physically appealing, I'm sure it would be twice as hard staying away. For the moment, bloodlust was enough.

I sat through biology, learning nothing I didn't already know. The episode in English had left me a bit on edge, but I heard nothing but the dull thoughts of people around me after that.

Same story until lunch...

My siblings sat at their designated table, together and away from everyone else. I joined them, throwing down my tray and filling the last seat at the table.

"Yo, you coming hunting with me tonight bro?" Emmet said, using me as a welcome escape from his daily lecture from Rose about whatever it was he did wrong that day.

"Yeah, I'm coming." I needed a distraction.

You're still acting weird.

"Alice, I'm fine," I assured her, offering her a weak smile. I was fine, I was just restless… I felt like I should be doing something, but didn't know what it was. I felt for the first time in ages, a little disorientated. It was the voice… the music… it made me uneasy, I think, to be out of control. I wanted to know who it was… who was responsible for these strange happenings.

Fine, but I'm here if you decide to talk about it.

I nodded slowly, grateful for my sister's concern despite everything. It was nice to be around someone who genuinely cared about others the way Alice did. She really was an incredibly decent vampire.

My eyes was drawn to the window, distracted by the darkness of the day. To human eyes, it wouldn't look much different than usual, but I could see the sky a long way into the distance, forming an especially harsh storm that was blanketing Forks in wet dark clouds. Wind was minimal, and plants seemed to shiver, waiting nervously for Mother Nature's impending wrath. I kept my thoughts on the weather, finding it a welcome distraction from this pestering curiosity since the strange occurrences last night and today. I followed the windows back to my locker, appreciating the way the sun struggled in vain to pierce the thick fog settling over the trees.

"Hi."

I turned from the window to examine the odd occurrence of someone standing so close to me.

"Hi." I was cold and uninviting, like always. I had seen this girl once before, in English class. I noticed her when I glanced around today, assuming she was someone I'd never had a class with....

She stood leaning on the locker next to mine, smiling softly to herself.

"This your locker?" Obviously.

"Yes." I kept my eyes on my task.

"I had my eye on this one here… it really stands out from the rest, don't you think?" she slapped her hand against it as if testing its durability and offered me a warm smile, making me a bit uncomfortable. I eyed the locker, suppressing a strange urge to laugh as I noticed it was exactly the same as all the others.

"That one's taken," I muttered, slamming my locker before walking away swiftly. I couldn't get too friendly with people like her, even if it was just harmless chatter… If this girl was new, then she needed to learn to view me as unapproachable like everyone else had. I could be no one's "locker buddy", and really had no desire to be.

I noticed with my superior vision that she was following me to Film Studies, and sighed internally. Was she in that class too? I took my seat, hoping she wouldn't sit near me and try to chat again. To my relief she sat right up the front, far away from my position down the back. I hardly needed a reason to be closer to these people, and my eyesight from here was better than theirs even if they sat inches away from the screen.

We were watching Eternal Sunshine from where we left off last class. People's voices and thoughts hushed as the movie began, most casting their minds back to remember what had happened previously. My eyes unconsciously flicked to the girl I didn't know who found it so necessary to talk to me today.

She must be new here… I had a feeling I would have remembered her. She wore a bright red dress that jumped out from the grey walls surrounding us. My eyes focused in on the elaborate stitching on the hem, mesmerized briefly as intricate patterns danced in front of my eyes. It was an interesting fabric that seemed to catch as much light as it could despite the dark day, and reflect it out.

I looked back up at the projected movie as I realized I was sitting here staring at a girl's skirt. This kind of behavior was completely out of character, and certainly not the most gentlemanly thing to be caught doing... Thankfully everyone else was absorbed in the movie, and not watching me. As much as listening to them got tiring, I was glad to be able to answer any questions that came up, any suspicions people may have about me and my lifestyle. Mostly though, I tried not to listen. It had become a habit of mine to try and avoid reading people's thoughts as often as I could. Sometimes I could almost completely drown the world out, and other times I found it impossible.

There was one voice in particular I could not ignore.

If I had a heart it would have pounded right now as the familiar but always unexpected voice entered my head like it was an open door. The red dress girl vanished from my thoughts as my senses were attacked by something else.

Green, red, orange, blue, green, red, orange, blue, green, red, orange, blue.

What?

Baffled, again. The more I heard this voice, the more I desperately wanted to know who was behind it, and why I was getting these frustratingly cryptic bites of information. I couldn't concentrate on the movie for most of the next hour, finding myself hanging out for another message, another clue. Anything…

The bell rang. Nothing more.

Gathering my stuff slower than usual, I let the words run over and over in my head "green, red, orange, blue". As I walked to my locker I let the memory of the voice engulf me completely… the strange distorted tone, the confusing direction. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before, and it was making me extremely curious… As someone who need only look at someone to know what they're thinking, I hadn't spent as much time as my family perfecting the art of patience, which was why I felt so uneasy at the moment.

"Hi."

A glittery voice interrupted my train of thought. Again.

Red dress girl was shoving some books in the locker next to me. I nodded, barely. What did she have a crush on me or something? Actually, no, I didn't want to know. I kept my head straight and tried to filter out the Jessica Stanley like fantasies that I knew could be circling this girl's mind.

She continued, seemingly unaffected by my remoteness. "Turns out the locker was empty after all…physically anyway."

Despite my annoyance of her constant chatter, I was also curious as to what that meant. I felt justified in giving her a look that could mean either 'what are you talking about' or 'why are you talking to me'. She could interpret the inflection whichever way.

"You seem reluctant to share this space with me." Her face was suddenly more serious, even a touch sad.

Bingo.

The confused look on my face lessened but didn't completely disappear as I took in her words. Yes, that's because I am reluctant to share this space with you... I didn't offer a reply. She continued.

"So you're tainting my locker with your negativity."

Tainting it? You don't know the meaning of tainting, my dear. I could taint that locked with my pinkie finger in ways you couldn't even imagine. I turned to her, finally willing to tune into her mind and make sense of the motivations behind her side of this conversation.

"Just saying…a smile wouldn't hurt now, would it?" she said, setting a bright example before walking away. Her skirt swayed merrily as she did so, left to right on the soft curve of her hips. Left, right, left…right…

A smile? Was she serious? I cast my mind back to when I read her mind, but remembered nothing. I guess she must have verbalized everything she was thinking…but still, odd that I got nothing at all.

I shrugged it off, that and this girl's annoying persistence. A smile? I tried to be as polite as I could in most circumstances, but this girl was giving me no reason to smile. She was talking to me more than any human here did, and it wasn't good. I felt my throat ache slightly at the prolonged close contact. Venom had pooled in my mouth, and I knew I would definitely have to go hunting tonight, all because of this infuriating person.

Yes, a smile would hurt.

I shut my locker and continued on to my next class, perplexed by the number of strange things happening to me lately.

The rest of the day was eerily quiet, and for that I was almost thankful. Even Alice was quiet in Biology, sitting there stroking Jasper's hair as her mind wandered far away. As much as I wasn't treated so, I was always the odd one out. Rosalie and Emmet, Jasper and Alice, Carlisle and Esme… they were souls paired off. Emotional and physical counterparts. Lovers.

I had not known such a thing... the way they look into each others eyes like it was the first and last time… the way a slight touch or look set their minds in such unity, uniformly in love. No, I had no such thoughts for another.

It was thought a long time ago when Rosalie entered our family that our relationship might blossom to such depths. She was beautiful, strong, lively, everything someone could want in a life long partner… but I didn't ache for her, I didn't swell with feeling when she entered a room, or smiled at me. At first I thought it was something that may slowly grow in me, that I was perhaps experiencing love without knowing and rejecting those feelings because of their strangeness, but the more I watched Esme and Carlisle, the more I knew neither of us felt that way about the other. We were siblings, and we mutually accepted that that's all we could be.

I don't know if I longed for a partner or simply a place to belong, but something felt incomplete in our family, and all arrows pointed to me. It was my turn, it seemed, though I doubted in my stone cold heart whether I was capable of a love like my siblings shared. Maybe it had just been so long that this most human quality was completely lost in me. Then again, it seemed so easy for the others… could there be a vampire out there for me? Perhaps Carlisle would save yet another on the brink of death and bring them home… maybe then fate would deliver the last piece of the Cullen puzzle. Until that day, I could wait.

The rest of the day disappeared quickly enough. My mind was occupied with many thoughts, which I took time to ponder during the rest of my superfluous classes for the day. It was only on my way to my locker that something in the real world demanded my attention.

I swiftly put my things away, trying to ignore the girl standing next to me who always seemed to be there. She glanced at me, looking for something. The smile she had asked for, perhaps. I held my face stern.

And then…

"What is it?"

I was taken aback by her voice, concentrating fully on the melody suddenly filling my head. She must have been watching me, watching as I jumped involuntarily when swells of music radiated through my entire soul. There seemed no pattern to the it, a different style and tone every time. This time I heard the prominent words "sad eyes" over a sorrowful piano score.

"What is what?" It came out a little harsher than I meant it to. I was still taken aback by the music, not having heard anything from my mysterious voice since the beginning of the day.

It seemed my reactions could make the music dissapear, because at my words, it faded out completely. I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or saddened.

The girl looked at me for a few moments, her face unreadable, her mind unreadable. I focused harder, wanting to know whether I was somehow not able to read her mind or beneath that mass of playful colour stood a girl thinking about absolutely nothing. The latter didn't seem probable given the way I had just addressed her, but the former seemed… incomprehensible. Despite the fact I knew I should give this girl no more time of day, that this was perhaps the last time she would have the gall to talk to me… I stared at her, and she stared back.

"Nothing."

Nothing.

She said exactly what I was thinking, her voice echoing through me. She broke eye contact and turned back to her locker, her face more downcast than I was used to seeing.

Absolutely nothing.

She turned to leave.

"Wait…"

Obviously not expecting this, she turned around in surprise. She wasn't the only one not expecting this…what was I doing? Before my common sense could kick in, I asked for what I needed to know.

"What are you thinking right now?"

She stared at with a confusion befitting my strange question. Curse my curiosity.

"I'm thinking…today was a bad day," she muttered, her words generating a strange swell of guilt through my chest. Or was it fear? She was thinking something, I knew that now… but I couldn't hear it in her mind. I felt an overpowering urge to apologize for my rudeness towards her, but bit it back. This was how it was supposed to happen. She would forever remember me as that jerk who was rude to her on her first day here and hopefully avoid me from here on in.

What good was avoiding being a monster if I was still the villain? I disliked this part. Sure, I had no real interest in these humans, but I didn't want to upset them, simply ignore them so that we could coexist in peace. I let her walk away again, and once again found my eyes dart down as the sway of her dress was stopped by a passing a crowd of less vibrant people. It seemed to be in slow motion...like a moment in a movie , over which strums a soft acoustic guitar, each sweet note the perfect soundtrack to the dance of her dress…

There was a boy, a bitter boy,

Who's golden heart I saw gleaming,

I thought I'd win the heart within,

But now I know that I was dreaming.

DOVE'S POV

My first few days were crap.

Students at Forks High were friendly enough, but not enough to befriend me, it seemed. It was a week since the move from Seattle, and I had barely enough time to unpack my stuff, let alone comprehend the daunting process of changing schools.

We changed houses for the third time in as many years, but the change never got easier for me. I guess our nomadic nature is what made it hard for me to make friends… I was kind of hanging out, waiting for the next change, drifting. I didn't exactly fit in with many high school stereotypes anyway. I was well and truly a drifter like my mother, and drift I did as I walked the halls of my new prison, feeling like a solar powered torch would in such an environment. Totally drained.

I opened my locker, and spied the guy who refused to give me the time of day standing next to me. I had made some lame joke about how my locker was obviously superior to the rest, even though it was just the one I had been allocated. He said it was taken, which apparently was a total lie just to get away from me.

Am I that repulsive? Hell.

I looked over my shoulder, curious to see if the scowl on his face was any less severe than this morning. No. Worse if that was possible. I was about to shake my head and walk away when I noticed him jump and look around as if he caught a spider resting on his shoulder. Feeling the need to deprecate his pride be this the case, I spoke up.

"What is it?" There was a helplessness on his face that I hadn't seen before, and it momentarily distracted me from my initial task of emasculating him. I guess this was the first time I saw his eyes… so dark, like a curtain over his soul.

He let out a frustrated sigh. "What is what?" It was fierce enough to make my heart jump.

Who did he think he was? Crazy asshole.

As much as I wanted to give in on my manners and shove him square into his locker, I was still astounded by his eyes… could eyes really be black?

"Nothing," I muttered, knowing probing any further would only intensify his apparent dislike for me. I wasn't going to make an enemy on my first day if I could avoid it… not that I really did anything to warrant such a reaction. I closed my locker and walked away only to be stopped by the boy. This I was not expecting.

"Wait."

I span around a little too eagerly for my apology, wondering if he had come to his senses, or if he was going to antagonize me some more with his bitterness by pointing out I had toilet paper on my shoe or something.

"What are you thinking right now?"

The surprise on my face I couldn't conceal, because it was really quite genuine. What was I thinking right now?...I was thinking "what are you thinking". I went with a safer option.

"I'm thinking… today was a bad day." I had been thinking that most of the day, so it wasn't exactly a lie.

We stared each other down for what seemed like an eternity before I concluded he was really not going to say anything else. Wow. What a strange guy. I turned to leave again, humming the words to a song in my head that he reminded me of. I waded through the unconscious crowd and eventually found my little black Volvo C70 waiting for me in the parking lot.

I felt weird about driving it to school, not wanting to be labeled as the "rich kid". Normally I would flat out refuse to spend that much money on my first car, but my father bought it as a gift for me shortly before he died. It reminded me of him, and I wouldn't part with it for the world because of that. I got in and pumped The Prodigy, needing something to match my fierce mood.

Fuck school.

Seriously.

I waited patiently as people pulled out around me, stewing in anger. I was already dreading tomorrow. After what seemed like a lifetime, I was finally able to back out.

"Oh for fucks s-" I stopped and squinted into my rearview mirror at the car right up my ass. Just as I was about to drive off to let them through, I noticed two things. 1. That the rude guy from my locker was behind the wheel, and 2. That he was driving a Volvo C30. What the hell!

Normally I wasn't a vengeful person, but today, I was pushed to my limit.

I smirked to myself as the impatient person behind me drove even further behind me, stopping just before impact, obviously in some sort of hurry. I daintily pressed the button that lowered my roof, turning my Volvo into a convertible. I could have driven at the same time but I purposefully didn't, and for the time being he was forced to sit there and admire the view of my magnificent roof slowly going down. When it finally finished, I turned my head to smile sweetly at him before taking off, my music blaring as I stormed away from the car park, causing heads to turn.

At this point, I didn't care.

His face had been priceless, and despite that fact I was now really cold, it was totally worth it. I wasn't going to put the top back up until I was a good distance away from school though, just in case.

"Dinner's ready" I heard mum call from the kitchen.

Everything lousy in the world was seriously forgotten when I was eating Gwen's food. I ran a little too eagerly away from my homework to the dining room table, almost tripping over my own feet in the process.

She eyed me over the table as I stuffed food into my mouth. "You going to talk to me about it yet?"

"No," I spat through my mouthful.

"That bad?"

I sighed and swallowed, not wanting to have this talk again.

Every time we moved Gwen would worry about me not making friends at school and bug me until I was forced to make up some story about going to the movies with friends when I was really going to read alone in the park. It's not that I couldn't make friends, I just liked being alone a lot of the time, which hindered the process somewhat. I was perfectly sociable, but not many people really interested me, or me them… every school was the same. Jocks, nerds, bullys, outcasts. Always the same old story.

"It was fine, really. I'm sure I'll fit in nicely," I lied, casting my mind back to my dramatic display in the car park today.

Her face warmed. "Good. I'm glad to hear that… I think this job could be permanent, kiddo." She smiled hopefully at me, the same excitement I'd seen in her eyes many times before. Gwen loved her job, and she was very good at it… but it was always the same old story. 'This is the one, kiddo. Settle in.' It wasn't. I eyed Juliet, my younger sister, who had the same doubtful expression as I did.

I braved a smile. "Well… that's great, mum."

"I'm serious this time. This is just what we needed; A bit of fresh air. My head has never been more clear."

I did like our house. It was situated a little while out of town, just inside the forest. It was too big for Gwen, Juliet and me, but at the same time had a really cozy feel. It was predominantly wood, like a big cottage with a pretty teal colored door. Gwen was in the process of buying furniture, but had managed to make the house very presentable given the small amount of time since we arrived here.

Two main stories and a small third story, which was just my room and an en suite bathroom and small space that seemed built just for my piano. I had to say I liked having the top of the house to myself. It was great in terms of privacy, and the view was amazing. There were two glass doors with wooden panels that opened out onto a small balcony. I had great plans for this room, even if I couldn't keep it forever… This weekend I would paint it a dark maroon colour, which would fit nice with the surrounding greenery and charming colors of the wood.

We were left a lot for money from my father when he died. He had been a successful lawyer in Seattle, and as such was hardly ever home. Gwen was in the medical profession, as a nurse. Since dad died, we traveled around as Gwen got positions at hospital after hospital. She assured us it had nothing to do with dad's death, but we knew better... After the third move, she finally told us that she needed to get out of the city and that we were moving to Forks. She took a job at the local medical centre, and here we are, eating dinner.

"And Juliet, how are your classes?" Gwen asked.

"Fine," she grumbled in reply.

Juliet wasn't as good as Gwen and I at completely uprooting her life without a fuss. She made friends easily and became attached, so when it was time to go she would literally have to be dragged away. I felt for her, but I also envied the passion by which she lived. At least she allowed her roots to sink into the ground, whereas mine… mine were packed in a suitcase, ready to go.

We finished up dinner and all pitched in with the cleaning before going our separate ways for the night. I climbed the stairs to my room; silently thinking of all the weight I was going to lose climbing them so many times every day.

What we need here is a lift…

The funny thing was if I joked about that with Gwen, she would no doubt take me seriously and I'd wake up the next morning with a fully functional lift installed in the house. I didn't feel I needed extravagant material possessions…I liked making my own clothes and all the colorful bits and pieces that filled my room were from thrift stores and old vintage shops. The only exceptions to this were my car, my stereo and my piano. The car because it was a gift from my father, the piano because it was also a gift, and I use it every day, and the stereo because… well, it's awesome. We all have a vice, I suppose.

The homework sitting on my desk was staring at me. I had to write an essay on Romeo and Juliet by the end of the week but I really had no motivation to do it right now… Instead I found myself putting on some music and chilling on my bed, trying my hardest to ready myself for another crappy day of school tomorrow.

Hello, new life.

I wonder when my next will begin.

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Woo! First chapter.

So you've made it this far, show me some love or hate, if you are so inclined, but mostly love.